How Religion and Spirituality Differ

CAN RELIGION ALONE ASSURE YOUR “TICKET TO HEAVEN” OR DOES IT INVOLVE SOMETHING DEEPER?

“It’s often joked that religion is for people who are afraid of going to hell, whereas spirituality is for people who have been there. In everyday life, the distinction between religion and spirituality is mostly overlooked, especially by the media, which seems to seldom distinguish them—and thereby renders both a great disservice.

Religions of this “ticket to heaven” variety stress belonging to the right group above one’s personal behavior. Ultimately religion is about right belief, with the institution telling the individual how reality should be understood and placing the highest value on allegiance to this understanding. This is why religion tends to value creed over deed. Spirituality concerns right being and right action, which is why it tends to value deed over creed.

These explain why fundamentalism is usually connected to religion and not spirituality, since spirituality is inclusive and pluralistic. It’s also easy to see how terrorism can be justified by religion but not by spirituality.”

[Learn more about the differences between religion and spirituality in TCIA]

It’s Ultimately the Same Experience

IS THERE AN ESSENTIAL EXPERIENCE OF “ONENESS” AT THE CENTER OF EVERYTHING?

“The history of religions is a history of compelling narratives. We might liken these narratives to books, some of which are current bestsellers, some of which enjoyed a wide readership in the past, others of which were read by only a small number, and still others of which are out of print.

Brother Teasdale viewed the trunk, branches, and twigs of the tree of religion as part of a single existential human search that has been unfolding through our history as a species—a search that leads ultimately to our potential to manifest an interspiritual consciousness. He saw authentic awakening as the outcome of seeking along any of these branches. It was his firm belief that the world’s religious experience has been one experience on behalf of our destiny as a species united in oneness.”

[Read more about the essential unity of mystical experience in TCIA]

The Mystical Pursuit

THE UNIVERSALITY OF THE MYSTICAL PURSUIT

“The mystical pursuit is often associated solely with religion and spirituality. This is because the word “mystical” is often confused with “magical” in secular and scientific contexts, and thus easily dismissed. Fundamentally, mysticism involves the same kind of inquiry, the same kind of attention to direct experience, that permeates the everyday consciousness of all humans—particularly the pursuit of insight into how reality functions. It’s the same inquiry that science engages in using a different set of tools….

Humans are also united in their yearning for a constructive vision. Worldwide, polls on globalization indicate that on average 80% believe the world should be moving toward a global vision. Some 80% of those who believe this assert that basic skills of understanding and working together are necessary to achieve this objective. ”

[Read about the universality of the mystical pursuit as inquiry, ethics and transformative behavior in TCIA]

Reversing a Dangerous Course

FAR DARKER ALTERNATIVES LOOM

“The shared directions much of the world has taken so far for securing our future appear quite counterproductive. In fact our actions have bequeathed to us the problems that now threaten catastrophe. This is why a holistic, unitive approach must emerge.

Nearly all futurists and social scientists are emphatic that a successful future can only be achieved if there are multiple points of analysis and feedback. The debilitating legacy of the Iraq War for America’s financial health reveals the fallacy of making decisions based on faulty information…

The situation is even more precarious if, as so many sense, the world financial establishment essentially rigged the “world financial casino.” It’s well known that wealth and financial power have shifted into the hands of a tiny minority, perhaps as few as one percent of the world’s population, essentially disenfranchising everyone else. The system, which is mostly beyond the jurisdiction of the world’s governments and collective regulatory institutions”

Read details in TCIA about the dark clouds of destructive change that may loom on the horizon if humanity does not make radical transformative choices]

Centuries of the Materialistic and Menta

WE CAN’T CHOOSE JUST THE MENTAL OR THE SPIRITUAL; WE NEED BOTH

“In recent centuries our species has gone through a major “mentalization,” placing most of its eggs in the basket of intellectual and technological endeavor. As we modernized, we unwittingly moved away from our inner, more subjective nature, as modernism labeled much of our ancient subjectivity “supersitition.” This process has uprooted us from other elemental qualities in ourselves, resulting in a disconnect between individuals and institutions.

By placing an emphasis on the intellectual and material, we have created heartless institutional spaces.

When a life lived in exteriority implodes, the only hope is a creative stepping up from our interiority—our vast, largely untapped inner resources.”

[read more in TCIA about the inherent balance needed between all our human faculties, and institutions reflecting the same holism]

FRAMING THE BIG PICTURE

IT’S DIFFICULT TO LIVE IN THE 21ST CENTURY AND STILL HAVE THE WORLD DIVIDED OVER WHETHER WE EVOLVED

“Belief in a first cause is one thing. But when it comes to what happened as a result of the first cause, science and some fairly large segments of religion have parted company, especially when it comes to a discussion of our species’ origin. Humanity is divided between widespread belief in creationism and the evolutionary view supported by modern rational inquiry. The implications of this disagreement are far-reaching, impacting human survival.”

[Read more on the implications of much of the world rejecting scientific knowledge in TCIA]

Process and Common Sense

HOW FUNDAMENTALISM IS “INFORMATION-PROOF”

“All of us are familiar with process, which is in essence cause and effect. …. Yet when it comes to how we got here in a biological sense, the gradual process known as “evolution” gets bad press among fundamentalists.”

[Read more about the problem “information-proof” fundamentalism in TCIA]

The Two Cultures of Knowing

SCIENCE AND SPIRITUALITY REPRESENT OUR TWO WAYS OF KNOWING

“The root of this conflict over our origins is to be found in the different ways in which humans come to know things, both individually and at the cultural level…. We can discern the truth of a matter from our uniquely personal ways of inquiring. We think of this as a subjective, inner way of knowing something. We can also discern the truth of a matter from our collective, public ways of inquiring, including science. This we think of as an observational, outer way of inquiring that’s more objective.”

[Read more about the inherently synergistic ways of “inner” and “outer” knowing in TCIA]

Pattern Versus Process

IT’S EASY TO AGREE ON WHAT WE SEE; IT’S EASY TO DISAGREE ON WHAT PUT IT THERE

“Questions of human identity are especially complex. It’s one thing to agree we are composed of atoms and molecules, but quite another to believe we share a common ancestor with apes….

…the intellectually advanced often identify religious and spiritual experiences as primitive superstition, dismissing them out of hand—of course, all under the guise of critical thinking. Confusing pattern with process, a predetermined “why” often determines the explanation of “how.”

We can’t forget that the world’s most recent collective paradigm shift came precisely from such a violent collision—the events and aftermath of September 11, 2001.”

[Read more in TCIA about the tragedies that ignorance rains upon our world]

What’s There to See in the Pattern?

IF WE ARE TO SEE CLEARLY, WE NEED TO SEE “BIG PICTURE”

“We can’t make sense of the phenomenon of spirituality in humankind apart from the arising of consciousness in our species. Neither can we understand the arising of consciousness apart from the biological development of humankind—especially that most remarkable feature of our species, our brain. Not without reason do we classify ourselves as Homo sapiens, meaning the “knowing” or “intelligent” human.

Similarly, neither can we make sense of spirituality without understanding how our species wove from our internal diversity and complexity a web of cultural diversity and complexity through the creation of things, then told stories about our creations—and, ultimately, about ourselves.”

[Read more about the grand lessons of cosmology in TCIA]

FOURTEEN BILLION YEARS IN A FEW PAGES

TO APPRECIATE WHO AND WHERE WE ARE, WE HAVE TO KNOW WHERE WE CAME FROM

“To know your origins is to know your life” Lao Tzu

“Long before modern physics, the 17th century English poet Francis Quarles declared it was “God’s all producing blast which blew up the bubble of the world.” Today we refer to this blast as the “Big Bang,” a phenomenon discovered in the 20th century. Fourteen billion years of development since that time inform us of who, and where, we are.”

[explore in TCIA how knowledge of cosmology will positively influence our species survival and skillfully moving forward]

After the Big Bang

The Arising of Life on Earth

Multicellular Creatures Like Us—Sex, Holarchy, and Hierarchy

Earth’s First Green Revolution

Disaster Leads to New Opportunities

IN ALL THESE SECTIONS OF TCIA YOU’LL ENJOY A WILD RIDE THROUGH OUR PLANET’S DEVELOPMENT OF GEOSPHERE, BIOSPHERE AND, FINALLY, INTELLIGENT LIFE.

YOU’LL DISCOVER THE BASIC STRUCTURES AND LAWS OF NATURE WHICH, IF TO SURVIVE AND THRIVE, HUMANITY MUST COME INTO SYNERGY WITH NOT SIMPLY EXPLOIT AND DEPLETE.

The Advent of Intelligent Life

DOES LIFE HERE MEAN LIFE ON OTHER PLANETS?

“The idea of intelligent life anywhere in the universe is fascinating to us. A 2010 CNN poll indicated 86% of respondents shared this fascination. On our own planet, the period from 50-45 million years ago produced the unique circumstances in which the creature we call human could arise. “

[Read more in TCIA about the our life on earth, the possibilities of life elsewhere in the universe and what this means for our understanding of both spirituality and science]

The Riddle of Humankind

WE KNOW NOW THAT HUMANS WERE NOT THE ONLY INTELLIGENT LIFE ON EARTH

“It’s startling how the scientific view of the advent of humans has changed in only a few decades. No longer is there a simple debate about the characteristics of a single distinct lineage, with our ancestors following each other in vertical sequence. Instead there are now a diverse number of precursors….

In the modern view, our species is now often referred to as “the last man standing.” For as recently as 70,000 years ago, there appear to have been at least four “men standing.””

[Read in TCIA about what science now knows about how many intelligent creatures have come, and gone, on planet earth; how do we integrate this knowledge with our inner spiritual ways of knowing?]

Kinds of Creationism

BECAUSE OF LIMITED TUNNEL VISION, HUMANITY IS STILL ARGUING ABOUT ORIGINS WHEN IT DOES NOT NEED TO

“While clearly identifying the trend toward growing unity consciousness in the evolution of our species, we have also noted the divided views of the world’s peoples concerning the process that accounts for our origin and place in the universe. This leads us to ask if there’s an endgame in which division ceases, especially in the light of the unfolding Interspiritual Age.

It’s one thing to equate evolution with the simple everyday reality of patterns and process, making the volatility of the word more palatable to common sense, and quite another to address the real-time implications of the worldwide divide over the question—especially as it plays out internationally on a stage of stark polarity and even conflict.”

[Read more in TCIA about how the debate about human origins still disrupts our planet’s ability to collectively face up to far more critical global challenges]

The God of the Gaps

WHAT FURTHER STYMIES OUR PROGRESS TOWARD ACTUAL UNDERSTANDING?

“…the approach of some creationists is to portray the discussion in terms of dramatic opposites, such as, “Can one believe in both God and evolution? Can one accept scientific teachings and engage in religious belief and practice?” Coupled with this, they play on western Christian fears of materialism, Communism, scientific reductionism, paganism, and morals and ethics of which they disapprove. Such views are particularly influential among those who believe in magical end-time scenarios.”

A Biological Endgame?

WHERE DOES THE DEBATE ON HUMAN ORIGINS NEED TO GO?

“The large population globally whose religions support a view of theistic evolution underscores the fact that purely anti-evolution views operate mainly in the domain of world politics, where they hope to exert and fix their influence by political means. It will be a primary test of the Interspiritual Age and the emerging unity consciousness to see whether such information-proof beliefs can yield to a more inclusive, holistic view, which spirituality would define as the view of the heart.”

[Read in TCIA about other human knowledge that should put to rest this counter-productive argument over human origins]

A Happy Ending?

POLITICS AND THE DEBATE OVER HUMAN ORIGINS

“Cold religions and cooling religions that are no longer strident about their metaphysical claims, most especially their end-time scenarios, have adapted to accommodating differences of opinion. These religions include most of the traditions characterized by high levels of education among their clergy, who are often involved in ecumenical activities. The behavior of hot religions is quite the opposite, as we have witnessed since 9/11 in the movement of the political “right” in American politics. “

[Explore TCIA more with regard to the politicization of this issue and how responsible religion and spirituality can lay it to rest]

THE DAWN OF SPIRITUALITY

WHAT LED HUMANITY TO INTELLIGENCE, AND ALSO SPIRITUALITY, WAS UNDERSTANDING CAUSE AND EFFECT

“It’s possible to see the relationship between brain-mind development, the emergence of consciousness, and the beginning of religious and spiritual activity. What we call “consciousness” arose when early humans began to grasp the relationship between cause and effect. First came the general awareness of cause and effect, then action related to this recognition, such as the fashioning of tools….

In brain-mind studies, this direct relationship of a recognition or awareness followed by action is often called “integration consensus.” Whenever animals recognize the relation of cause and effect, actions and skills arise. This relationship between awareness and skills wasn’t only crucial to the unfolding of our history, but is relevant to whether, in the current millennium, we can recognize and solve the problems that confront us.”

[Read more in TCIA about the danger of humankind losing this ability to adapt and thus survive by having views of reality that simply are not true]

Consciousness—the Power of a Name

Toolmaking, Use of Fire, and the Growth of Consciousness

HOW DID THE MOST NORMAL ACTIVITIES OF EARLY HUMANS NATURALLY LEAD TO THE ARISING OF SPIRITUALITY?

“From self-awareness, particularly in the sense of a having a personal name whose existence in language can live longer than the actual person, arises the sense of identity-permanence, with its implications of past and future that lead to recognizable spiritual or religious activities.

Naming is the first evidence of the subjective world, the world of an “idea” held within humankind independent of the world around it. Burying the dead, particularly with ritual, is another mark of personal identity, another mark that science recognizes as emerging spirituality.”

[read more in TCIA about how humankind got ‘hard-wired” to be “spiritual” and what this implies for our future]

Consciousness and Language: the Pivotal Connection

THE STRUCTURE OF HUMAN LANGUAGE, AND THE UNIVERSALITY OF MANY OF OUR SKILLS , INDICATES TO SCIENCE AN INSTRINSIC UNITY IN THE HUMAN PSYCHE

“Many investigators consider the development of language as key to understanding the arising of consciousness—perhaps initially as reflexive or more animal-like mind, which is less calculating and reflective, and then as more and more conscious (calculating, reflective, and introspective).

Anthropologists and cognitive researchers date the origin of language from about 50,000-35,000 years ago. They then see the transition from mind to more spacious consciousness as arising differentially across various cultural circumstances and timelines. Though many of us assume the inhabitants of all those eras possessed the same mental and conscious faculties we do, they assert that this isn’t the case. Human mind and human behavior, being in constant development, have been quite varied at different times…. Yet the structure of human languages and most of our inherent human skill sets indicate extremely close genetic relationships.

This startling fact, which confused anthropologists for many years, is possibly related to the tightness of the human genome after the massive die off some 70,000 years ago. Yet it suggests an intrinsic unity in humankind’s inherited psyche—an important element in the vision of an unfolding Interspiritual Age.”

[It’s amazing to think that a massive die off 70,000 years ago, before humankind then expanded across Eurasia, may have “wired” us all to be very much alike in basic psyche and spiritual make-up; read more in TCIA]

Early Evidence for Spirituality

SPIRITUALITY AROSE NATURALLY WITH OUR EVOLUTION AND CONSEQUENTLY IS WIRED INTO US

“One of the earliest spiritual activities, reflecting awareness of the individual as an identity, involved the ritualistic disposition of the human body following an individual’s death. Evidence of burial of the dead in early humans goes back further than might be imagined. It has important implications for how to date the origin of self-recognition, individuality, and the sense of essence or soul. The earliness of human burials in the anthropological record suggests that spiritual awareness may have existed even prior to fully developed language.”

[Read more in TCIA about what other aspects of early humans indicates complex spiritual and religious activities, even the recordation of the paranormal and spiritual powers; the debate about whether this in pre-rational superstition or indicates areas of human ability needing to be accessed for our global post-rational era is also discussed further as TCIA develops]

EVOLUTION AND REVOLUTION

CAN WE LEARN FROM HISTORY?

“Polls indicate nearly 80% of people believe that patterns are discernable in history. Utilizing a transcultural, world-centric approach, teasing out these historical patterns has been the pursuit of academics from as early as the 19th century. Known as developmentalists or structuralists, their work evolved into those of modern integralists such as Ken Wilber, Don Beck, and Chris Cowan.

… Just as it’s common for each of us to recognize stages or phases in a person’s life because we observe the patterns, the developmentalists and integralists see patterns in history and suggest what they may mean, especially with regard to the future.”

[TCIA provides a comprehensive and easily understandable review of developmental history; you’ll be amazed at the insights available in this perspective]

From Cosmology to the Challenge of Human History

The Crossover Between Scientific and Religious Insight

LEARNING FROM COSMOLOGY AND HISTORY

“Whether one subscribes to a belief in biological evolution or theistic creation, the process after the emergence of human beings has clearly involved adaptation, as all recognize. Success at developing skill sets has been and continues to be crucial for our survival. “

All of this illustrates the compulsion of our species to seek a deeper meaning in history, born out by a poll showing 77% of respondents believe in a purpose to history. It’s not surprising that developmental and even supposedly providential views of history are recognized by the interspiritual movement as evidence of humanity’s interest in the patterns of our history.”

[Understanding developmental history is fundamental to an informed vision of the future; read TCIA’s detailed but readily understandable account]